Tune: THE COMFORTER HAS COME
Right in the middle of this Pentecostal hymn, we find a great statement about deliverance from the prison of sin: when deliverance happens, there’s an empty cell that’s left behind. I had never thought of that before. And according to this text, there’s a song that rings out in triumph, declaring to all who pass by the vacant space that the once-bound resident has been released by an intervention of the Comforter… the Holy Spirit him/herself.
In east Tennessee we would say that “them’s shoutin’ words!”
This simple hymnline creates a mental picture of what full release means. I suppose I would have drawn a picture of a quiet, abandoned jail cell – no longer occupied by an inmate. However, Frank Bottome saw it differently… and probably more appropriately. It’s sort of like Jesus’ statement that the very rocks would cry out to praise him; in this case, the very prison walls sing!
I love the image. I’m going to try to keep it in mind not only when I celebrate the release of some life-long reprobate, but when I reflect on my own release(s) from the bondage of sin.
Lillie Knauls sings this hymn
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